The collection contains papers of Donaldson Koons of Sidney, Maine,
focusing primarily on his work as Chair of the Maine Land Use
Regulation Commission in 1973 and 1974.

Edwin Donaldson Koons was born in 1917 in Seoul, Korea and attended
school there, leaving Korea in 1934. He received his Bachelor’s,
Master’s, and Ph.D. degrees in geology from Columbia University.
After serving with the O.S.S. in World War II, he was a professor
and department chair of geology at Colby College from 1947 until his
retirement in 1982.

Long active in efforts to improve water and air quality in Maine,
Koons became a member of the Maine Water and Air Environmental
Improvement Commission in 1968, serving as Chair from 1969 through
1972. Koons served as a board member of the Maine Department of
Environmental Protection in 1973 and as Commissioner of the
Department of Conservation in 1973-1974. As such he also served as
chair of Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission. This body was
created by the Legislature in 1971 as a planning and zoning
authority for Maine’s townships, plantations, and unorganized areas
which have no form of local government to perform these functions.
These areas include more than 10.4 million acres of land and
encompass coastal islands, parts of the down east area and western
mountains, and land up to the Canadian border. The Commission was
established in response to a boom in recreational and land
development in the late 1960’s; its purpose is “to extend the
principles of planning and zoning; to preserve public health,
safety, and welfare; to encourage the well-planned, multiple use of
natural resources; to promote orderly development; and to protect
natural and ecological values.” During Koons’ tenure on the
Commission, its activities centered around providing interim zoning
for the land under its jurisdiction and adopting a comprehensive
land use plan.

Koons was also appointed in the mid-1970’s to the state’s Geology
Advisory Committee, a group formed to assist and advise the State
Geologist and the Maine Geological Survey. A Fellow of the
Geological Society of America and Dana Professor of Geology,
Emeritus at Colby, he remains active in the geological community.

Scope and Content Note

This small collection consists primarily of Donaldson Koons’ records
from his tenure with the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission
(LURC). The records date from 1973-1975; folders are arranged in
alphabetical order with headings used by Koons. Information has been
added for clarity as needed.

The LURC records concern both policy matters and day-to-day
operations of the Commission. They involve activities to develop a
comprehensive plan for land use and development, planning documents,
legislation, correspondence, lawsuits involving the Commission, and
documents outlining Koons’ differences with the Commission’s
executive director at the time.

Also included in the collection are a few folders, mostly
correspondence, from Koons’ service on the Maine Water and Air
Environmental Improvement Commission, later the Environmental
Improvement Commission, and material documenting his involvement
with various environmental groups in the state.

Finding Aids for selected manuscript
collections in the Special Collections Department at Fogler Library are
accessible online in URSUS, in a browsable
Guide to Manuscript
Collections. Please contact Special Collections at spc@umit.maine.edu
or (207) 581-1686 for further information.